In military and certain civilian contexts, Unmanned Aircraft Systems have become an increasingly important tool for gathering aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance over designated geographical area. In overseas military operations, in particular, the ability to conduct covert aerial surveillance of a geographical area has become increasingly useful for monitoring the movement of enemy combatants and for identifying potential threats, such as improvised explosive devices. A given Unmanned Aircraft System often includes multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (“UAVs”), various data links, and one or more ground control stations. The ground control stations are staffed by military personnel, which monitor streaming video feeds and other data supplied by the UAVs and which remotely pilot UAVs that are not fully autonomous.
With the increased usage of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, a demand has arisen for means by which smaller UAVs can be manually transported and launched on an as-needed basis by military personnel deployed in the field. To help satisfy this demand, tube-launched UAVs have recently been introduced that can be physically carried by ground troops and launched from ground-based ad hoc launch sites. More recently, the aerial deployment of tube-launched UAVs has been proposed from larger, manned aircraft. However, a need still exists for a means by which the sea-to-air deployment of tube-launched or other UAVs can be initiated by a submerged diver to provide, for example, covert littoral surveillance of a designated geographical area in support of a nearby on-the-ground troop presence.
It is thus desirable to provide embodiments of a submersible sea-to-air launch platform (referred to herein as a “submersible transport and launch canister”) that can be utilized by a diver to transport and manually-initiate deployment of an airborne object, such as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Ideally, embodiments of such a submersible transport and launch canister would be reliable, cost-effective, scalable, handsafe, and capable of preventing wetting of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during underwater transport and launch. It would also be desirable for embodiments of such a submersible transport and launch canister to enable the launch process to be performed in a covert manner by a submerged diver operating under adverse maritime conditions (e.g., low ambient light, Sea States approaching or exceeding Code 3, etc.). It would further be desirable for embodiments of such a submersible transport and launch canister to include means for ensuring that the launch process is performed at a predetermined launch angle to promote successful transition of the UAV to flight. Finally, it would be desirable to provide methods for the usage of such a submersible transport and launch canister. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and this Background.